Ethernet oam performance management

ABSTRACT

Maintenance entities may be defined between customer and provider flow points to allow performance management to take place on an Ethernet network. The maintenance entities may be defined for access link, intra-domain, and inter-domain, and may be defined on a link or service basis. The maintenance entities may be used to monitor performance within a network or across networks, and may be used to monitor various performance parameters, such as frame loss, frame delay, frame delay variation, availability, errored frame seconds, service status, frame throughput, the number of frames transmitted, received or dropped, the status of a loopback interface, the amount of time a service has been unavailable, and many other parameters. Several management mechanisms may be used, and the measurements may be collected using a solicited collection method, in which a response is required and collected, or an unsolicited collection method in which a response is not required.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation of co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/881,296, entitled “Ethernet OAMPerformance Management,” filed Jun. 30, 2004, the disclosure of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/881,296 claims the benefit of and priority tothe following five Provisional U.S. Patent Applications: 60/518,910,filed Nov. 10, 2003, entitled “Proposal for OAM Domain,” 60/518,920,filed Nov. 10, 2003, entitled “Proposal For Connectivity Check FunctionFor Fault Management In Ethernet OAM,” 60/518,919, filed Nov. 10, 2003,entitled “Proposal For Non-Intrusive Loopback For Fault Management InEthernet OAM,” 60/518,912, filed Nov. 10, 2003, entitled “Proposal ForPath Trace Function For Fault Management In Ethernet Networks,” and60/535,018, filed Jan. 7, 2004, entitled “Ethernet OAM: PerformanceManagement.” The content of each of these five applications is herebyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to communication networks and, moreparticularly, to Ethernet Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM)domains and an Ethernet OAM frame format.

2. Description of the Related Art

Data communication networks may include various computers, servers,nodes, routers, switches, bridges, hubs, proxies, and other networkdevices coupled together and configured to pass data to one another.These devices will be referred to herein as “network elements.” Data iscommunicated through the data communication network by passing protocoldata units, such as frames, packets, cells, or segments, between thenetwork elements by utilizing one or more communication links. Aparticular protocol data unit may be handled by multiple networkelements and cross multiple communication links as it travels betweenits source and its destination over the network.

The various network elements on the communication network communicatewith each other using predefined sets of rules, referred to herein asprotocols. Different protocols are used to govern different aspects ofthe communication, such as how signals should be formed for transmissionbetween network elements, various aspects of what the protocol dataunits should look like, how packets should be handled or routed throughthe network by the network elements, and how information associated withrouting information should be exchanged between the network elements.

Ethernet is a well known networking protocol that has been defined bythe Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as standard802. Conventionally, Ethernet has been used to implement networks inenterprises such as businesses and campuses, and other technologies havebeen used to transport network traffic over longer distances.Specifically, network providers such as carriers were reluctant todeploy networks based on Ethernet technology, since Ethernet is designedto provide best efforts service and doesn't support Operation,Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) functions desired by the networkproviders. Since network providers need to be able to guaranteeconnectivity, Ethernet was felt to be inappropriate for deployment inthese types of networks. When two Ethernet networks were to be connectedover a network provider's network, the Ethernet frames would beconverted to protocol data units using a transport protocol such as ATM,and carried over the network using the carrier's transport protocol. TheEthernet frames would then be recovered at the other side of the networkprovider's network and passed onto the second Ethernet network.

As the underlying networks have evolved and more and more Ethernetnetworks are being connected together, it has become more desirable totransport Ethernet frames in native form over the network provider'snetworks. Unfortunately, although it may be possible to overcome thelimitations associated with the best-efforts nature of the Ethernettechnology, other aspects of the Ethernet protocol still remain to besolved. For example, Ethernet does not enable certain Operation,Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) operations to take place to manageand diagnose problems on the network. This lack of OAM support inEthernet prevents the network provider from taking measurements toperform fault detection, isolation, confirmation, and many otheroperations that a network provider or subscriber may wish to be able todo on the network. As Ethernet has expanded beyond a single domain, theability to detect and isolate a network fault becomes more difficultrendering it necessary to implement OAM across Ethernet domainboundaries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Performance management may be provided in an Ethernet network bydefining maintenance entities and measuring performance of themaintenance entities on the network. Maintenance entities may be definedbetween any two flow points on the network, for example between customerflow points, provider flow points, or both, and may include, forexample, access link, intra-domain, and inter-domain maintenanceentities. The maintenance entities may be defined on a link basis orservice basis, and may be used to measure performance of various aspectsof the Ethernet network. Maintenance entities may be used to monitorperformance within a given provider's network, as well as across theprovider's network so that performance can be measured end-to-end acrossa network. The invention is not limited to the use of these particularmaintenance entities.

The maintenance entities may be used to monitor various performanceparameters, such as frame loss, frame delay, frame delay variation,availability, errored frame seconds, service status, frame throughput,the number of frames transmitted, received or dropped, the status of aloopback interface, and the amount of time a service has beenunavailable. Many other parameters may be measured as well. Theinvention is not limited to measurement of these particular performanceparameters.

The performance parameters may be measured using one or more managementmechanisms, such as by collecting statistics from the management planeof the network elements, using management plane managed objects, andthrough the use of OAM frames on the data path. Information to be usedin these measurements may be collected using a solicited collectionmethod, in which a response is required to an OAM request frame, orusing an unsolicited collection method in which the network elementsimply collects OAM frames. The invention is not limited to theseseveral methods or collection methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Aspects of the present invention are pointed out with particularity inthe appended claims. The present invention is illustrated by way ofexample in the following drawings in which like references indicatesimilar elements. The following drawings disclose various embodiments ofthe present invention for purposes of illustration only and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention. For purposes of clarity,not every component may be labeled in every figure. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of communication network;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a network element according toan embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating flows on a networksuch as the communication network of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of an Ethernet OAM format accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a functional block diagrams of networks illustratingpoint-to-point Ethernet OAM flows according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of a network illustratingmultipoint-to-point and point-to-multipoint Ethernet OAM flows accordingto an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a functional block diagram of a network illustrating signalingconnections between the nodes on the network;

FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of an OAM data field of a genericframe format according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram of a path trace request messageformat according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description sets forth numerous specific detailsto provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures, components, protocols, algorithms, and circuits have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a network topology in which customersites 10 running a conventional protocol such as Ethernet areinterconnected over a network 12. Multiple carriers 14 may participatein handling data flowing between the sites over the network, and each ofthe carrier networks may have multiple domains. Each customer site 10 isconnected to the provider's 12 using a Customer Edge (CE) networkelement 16. Network elements within the provider's network thatinterface CE network elements will be referred to herein as ProviderEdge (PE) network elements 18, and network elements within theprovider's network that only interface other provider network elementsand do not interface CE network elements will be referred to as Provider(P) network elements 20.

Interfaces on P, PE, and CE network elements may be configured toimplement a protocol such as User to Network Interface (UNI), Network toNetwork Interface (NNI) or another protocol. These interfaces may serveas reference points in the network and can be managed using OAM flows.

Network management may be handled centrally, via one or more networkmanagement stations 21, or may be done on the network elements in adistributed fashion. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, a networkmanagement station 21 interfaces with the networks 10, 12, 14, to enableOAM operations to take place on the networks. Each network 10, 12, 14,may have its own network management station or they may connect to acommon management station. The network management station may beconnected to all network elements within a domain/network, or may beconnected to select network elements, for example the edge networkelements (PEs) 18. The invention is not limited to the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a network element that may beconfigured to implement an embodiment of the invention. The networkelement may be used to implement one of the CE 16, PE 18, or P 20network elements of FIG. 1. The invention is not limited to a networkelement configured as illustrated, however, as the invention may beimplemented on a network element configured in many different ways. Thediscussion of the specific structure and methods of operation of theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 is intended only to provide one exampleof how the invention may be used and implemented in a particularinstance. The invention more broadly may be used in connection with anynetwork element configured to handle Ethernet frames in a communicationsnetwork.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network element generally includes Input/Output(I/O) cards 22 configured to connect to links in the communicationsnetwork. The I/O cards 22 may include physical interfaces, such asoptical ports, electrical ports, wireless ports, infrared ports, orports configured to communicate with other conventional physical media,as well as configurable logical elements capable of operating as MAC(layer 2) ports under the direction of an interface manager, describedin greater detail below.

One or more forwarding engines 24 are provided in the network element toprocess frames received over the I/O cards 22. The forwarding engines 24forward frames to a switch fabric interface 26, which passes the packetsto a switch fabric 28. The switch fabric 28 enables a frame entering ona port on one or more I/O cards 22 to be output at one or more differentports in a conventional manner. A frame returning from the switch fabric28 is received by one of the forwarding engines 24 and passed to one ormore I/O cards 22. The frame may be handled by the same forwardingengine 24 on both the ingress and egress paths. Optionally, where morethan one forwarding engine 24 is included in the network element 20, agiven frame may be handled by different forwarding engines on theingress and egress paths. The invention is not limited to any particularforwarding engine 24, switch fabric interface 26, or switch fabric 28,but rather may be implemented in any suitable network element configuredto handle Ethernet frames on a network. One or more Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs) 30, 32 and processors 34, 36 may be providedto implement instructions and processes on the forwarding engines 24.Optionally, a memory 38 may be included to store data and instructionsfor use by the forwarding engines.

An interface management system 40, optionally containing one or morecontrol cards 42 and one or more data service cards 44, may be providedto create and manage interfaces on the network element. The interfacemanagement system may interact with an OAM module 46 locallyinstantiated on the network element or interfaced to the network elementover a management interface port 48. The OAM module 46 may beimplemented in software, firmware, hardware, or in any other manner asdiscussed in greater detail here.

As discussed in greater detail below, Ethernet OAM may allow networklevel OAM functions to be supported on the network, and may also allowservice level Ethernet OAM functions to be supported on the networkelement. The following description will contain several sections. In thefirst section, a notion of Ethernet OAM domains will be introduced, andan OAM frame format will be introduced to support OAM operations withinthe domain (intra-domain) and between domains (inter-domain). The secondsection will describe how Ethernet OAM frames may be used to monitorperformance for intra-domain and inter-domain flows. The third sectionwill describe intra-domain and inter-domain fault detection andverification, and the fourth section will describe intra-domain andinter-domain fault isolation.

Part 1—Ethernet OAM Domains and Ethernet OAM Frame Format

Ethernet OAM domains and OAM flow identifiers are described in greaterdetail in Provisional U.S. Patent Application No. 60/518,910, filed Nov.10, 2003, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Asdiscussed in greater detail below, OAM domains and OAM flow identifiersmay be used to perform OAM functions in Ethernet domains by enablingnetwork elements within the domains to filter OAM frames based on OAMdomain and OAM flow identifier.

To enable network providers to use Ethernet technology in their carriernetworks, Ethernet OAM should be able to operate within a domain (suchas within a provider's domain), between domains (such as between domainsowned by one provider or between domains owned by multiple providers),and should be able to take place in a point-to-point, apoint-to-multipoint, a multipoint to point, or a multipoint tomultipoint manner. The reason for these requirements, is that a givenservice for a subscriber may cross multiple domains owned and operatedby multiple different parties. For example, a subscriber may have oneoffice in a first city and another office in another city. Themetropolitan carrier in each city may be different, and a third carriermay provide the long haul connectivity between the metropolitan areas.If Ethernet technology is to be used to support the transmissionsend-to-end across the multiple carriers, OAM will need to be implementedwithin each domain and between domains.

Network elements placed at an administrative boundary of a provider'snetwork serve as edge network elements for that provider network andhandle the ingress and egress of network flows to/from the providernetwork. When an edge network element performs a hand-off of an Ethernetlayer flow, to an edge network element of another provider, that networkelement serves as an edge hand-off network element. Not all edge networkelements are edge hand-off network elements, as some edge networkelements will not interface with other provider edge network elements.Those network elements that are not associated with the ingress, egressor hand-offs of network flows serve as interior network elements.

Additional administrative boundaries may exist within a single providernetwork to separate the provider network into domains. Network elementswithin the domain may similarly be classified as edge, edge hand-off,and interior network elements within each such administrative boundary.

OAM flows can be inserted and extracted at reference points within thenetwork, namely at flow points and termination flow points. According toan embodiment of the invention, the following OAM flows may be defined:

-   -   Customer UNI-UNI flow between reference points on the customer        side of the UNI.    -   Provider UNI-UNI flow between reference points on the provider        side of the UNI    -   Segment OAM flows:    -   Between flow points on the boundary of a provider network;    -   Between flow points on the boundaries of two adjacent provider        networks; and    -   Between any flow points as required;    -   Ethernet Physical Layer (ETY) link OAM flows.        Other OAM flows may be identified as well and the invention is        not limited to the particular identified OAM flows.

Depending on the type of OAM flow, a provider may seek to limit the flowto maintain it within its administrative boundary. For example, theprovider may wish to create segment OAM flows between flow points on adomain boundary that are not allowed to reach a customer network oranother provider's network. Similarly, the network providers may wish tocreate segment OAM flows between flow points on boundaries of theirprovider networks that are not allowed to reach a customer's network oranother provider's network. Therefore, an OAM service may be carriedacross a single or multiple OAM domains.

Ports on a network element in an OAM domain can be classified asinterior or exterior to a particular OAM domain. Interior ports arethose on which OAM frames, belonging to an OAM flow, are recognized andprocessed. Processing may result in either termination of the OAM flowor transmission of the OAM flow from one or more other ports on thenetwork element. Ports not interior to a domain are exterior ports. Anedge network element has both interior and exterior ports to an OAMdomain, while an interior network element has all its ports marked asinterior ports to that OAM domain.

Within an OAM domain, OAM flows may be applicable between edge networkelements only (an edge hand-off network element is also an edge networkelement) or across all network elements (i.e. including all interiornetwork elements and edge network elements).

OAM frames can be unicast or multicast frames. The difference betweenthe two is based on the destination MAC address (DA). A unicast OAMframe has a unicast DA while a multicast OAM frame has the multicast bitset in the frame DA and thus has a multicast DA. A multicast OAM framecan associate itself to all edge networks elements or all networkelements inside a domain, based on its multicast DA. According to anembodiment of the invention, the network elements support two types ofOAM multicast DAs: all edge bridges multicast DA; and all bridgesmulticast DA. Other multicast DAs may be used as well, and the inventionis not limited to an embodiment that supports only these two types ofmulticast DAs.

Different OAM flows can be identified by using OAM flow identifierswithin the OAM frames. OAM flow identifiers can assume many values.Several examples of which are set forth below. The invention is notlimited to these values, however:

-   -   UNI-UNI_(customer)—a Customer UNI-UNI flow between reference        points on the customer side of the UNI;    -   UNI-UNI_(Provider)—a Provider UNI-UNI flow between reference        points on the provider side of the UNI;    -   Segment_(intra-provider)—a Segment OAM flow between flow points        within the boundary of a provider network. This may include an        OAM flow between flow points on the boundary of a provider        network or between any flow points within a provider network as        required.    -   Segment_(inter-provider)—a segment OAM flow between flow points        inside the boundaries of two or more provider networks. This may        include an OAM flow between flow points on the boundaries of two        or more adjacent provider networks or between any flow points        inside the boundaries of two or more provider networks, as        required. Under special cases, the flow identifier        Segment_(inter-provider) may operate the same as the flow        identifier UNI-UNI_(Provider).    -   UNI_(Segment)—an OAM flow between reference points (i.e.        Termination Flow Point (TFP and Flow Point (FP)) on the customer        side and provider side of the UNI.    -   NNI_(Segment)—an OAM flow between flow points on two edge        hand-off network elements connected to each other. Each edge        hand-off network element belongs to a different provider        network.    -   UNI_(Link)—If the UNI is realized using a single Ethernet        Physical Layer (ETY) link, this OAM flow can be used for the ETY        link between customer and provider networks.    -   Transit_(Link)—this OAM flow can be used for any intermediate        ETY link between network elements.        Of these flow identifiers, UNI_(Link) and Transit_(Link) can be        based on a proposed standard being discussed in the IEEE        802.3ah. The other flow identifiers may be defined as discussed        in greater detail herein. Also, although multiple different OAM        flows have been identified, not all will be applicable for all        services and/or business models, particularly with multiple        provider scenarios. Thus, the invention is not limited to an        embodiment that supports all of these particular or only these        particular listed flow identifiers.

A combination of the two types of OAM Multicast DA and the OAM Flowidentifiers, as discussed above, can allow OAM flows to be created formultiple different maintenance entities. By filtering based on OAM flowidentifiers, edge network elements can protect the domain from externalsources of OAM frames, and ensure that OAM frames do not leak outsidethe domain.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a point-to-point flow reference modelfor an Ethernet layer network. In FIG. 3, network elements A and F arecustomer network elements, network elements B and C are edge networkelements of provider X1 and network elements D and E are edge networkelement of provider X2. Network elements C and D are also edge hand-offnetwork elements since they hand-off Ethernet OAM flows between the X1and X2 domains. It will be assumed for the purposes of this example thatthere are other edge and interior network element in both provider X1and provider X2 networks.

A provider UNI-UNI OAM flow can be generated at B (with a Unicast DA=MACaddress on E) with OAM flow identifier (identifier=UNI-UNI_(Provider)).This OAM frame gets forwarded to E based on its Unicast DA.

When a similar provider UNI-UNI Multicast OAM flow is needed, it can begenerated at B (with a multicast DA=all edge bridges multicast DA) withOAM flow identifier (identifier=UNI-UNI_(Provider)). As a result, alledge network elements within provider X1 OAM domain receive this OAMframe. When C receives this OAM frame, it recognizes it and processesit, as C is an edge network element. Since the OAM flowidentifier=UNI-UNI_(Provider), C also forwards the OAM frame to D. WhenD receives this frame, it recognizes it and processes it. D alsoforwards this frame to all other edge network elements within providerX2 OAM domain. When this OAM frame reaches E, it recognizes it andprocesses it. However, since the OAM frame is not meant to be sent tothe customer network, E terminates the OAM frame.

If a segment multicast OAM flow is needed within the edge devices ofprovider X1 network, it can be generated at B (with a multicast DA=alledge bridges multicast DA) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). As a result, all edge networkelements within provider X1 OAM domain will receive this OAM frame. WhenC receives this OAM frame, it recognizes it and processes it, since C isan edge network element. Since identifier=Segment_(intra-provider), Cwill terminate the OAM frame and will not forward the OAM frame to D.

If a segment multicast OAM flow is needed across all devices of providerX1 network, it can be generated at B (with a multicast DA=all bridgesmulticast DA) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). As a result, all network elementswithin provider X1 OAM domain receive this OAM frame. When C receivesthis OAM frame, it recognizes it and processes it. Sinceidentifier=Segment_(intra-provider), C terminates the OAM frame and doesnot forwards the OAM frame to D.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the value of the flowidentifier may be compared using a simple algebraic comparison with areference to determine whether the OAM frame should be passed ordropped. For example, in one embodiment, the value of the OAM flowidentifiers can be set so that filtering can be done based on whetherthe OAM frame entering or exiting a domain has an OAM flow identifiervalue smaller than a minimum OAM flow identifier configured on theinterior and/or exterior ports of the domain. For example, if thefollowing octet values are assigned to OAM flow identifiers:

-   -   UNI-UNI_(Customer)=255 (0xFF);    -   UNI-UNI_(Provider)=253 (0xFD);    -   Segment_(inter-provider)=251 (0xFB);    -   NNI_(Segment)=249 (0xF9);    -   UNI_(Segment)=247 (0xF7);    -   Segment_(intra-provider)=245 (0xF5);    -   UNI_(Link)=243 (0xF3); and    -   Transit_(Link)=241 (0xF1).        If the following minimum OAM flow identifier values are        configured across the different ports, NNI port=249 (0xF9), UNI        port=247 (0xF7), and Interior port=245 (0xF5), then filtering at        edge network elements can be achieved such that OAM frames with        OAM Flow identifiers smaller than the minimum OAM flow        identifier are not allowed into or out of the OAM domain. The        invention is not limited to this embodiment, however, as other        manners of filtering may be performed as well. For example, the        network elements may be configured to look for particular values        or ranges of values depending on the function of the network        element or port and the manner in which the OAM flow identifiers        are implemented. Thus, the invention is not limited to the        particular examples set forth above.

Part 1B—Ethernet OAM Frame Format

To enable OAM frames to be handled by network elements in an Ethernetdomain and between Ethernet domains, an Ethernet OAM frame format isdefined, according to one embodiment of the invention, which can beapplied to all Ethernet OAM messages. Ethernet OAM can be used for bothfacility OAM and service OAM, in which a service OAM flow is associatedwith a specific service instance, and a facility OAM flow is notassociated with a specific service instance.

Although OAM frames may be defined in a number of different ways,according to an embodiment of the invention, the OAM frame format may bearranged as illustrated in FIG. 4. The invention is not limited to thisembodiment, however, as other frame formats may be used as well.

Ethernet OAM frames can be Unicast or Multicast, and this distinction isbased on the frame's destination MAC address (DA). The OAM DA field 50is a 6-Octet field that identifies the destination address of the OAMframe. The DA can be a unicast address of a specific bridge, or amulticast address corresponding to a group of bridges, such as a DAassociated with an all edge bridges multicast address, or an all bridgesmulticast address. Other multicast addresses may be used as well.According to an embodiment of the invention, the Ethernet OAM frameformat supports two types of multicast DAs: an all edge bridgesmulticast DA, and an all bridges multicast DA. The invention is notlimited in this manner, however, as other forms of multicast DAs may beused as well.

The OAM MAC Source Address (SA) field 52 is a 6-Octet field thatidentifies the source address of the OAM frame. The Source Address (SA)can either be a unique address identifying the source bridge (a uniqueunicast MAC address assigned to the source bridge for OAM functionality)or can be the MAC address of a bridge port over which the OAM frame wassourced.

Ethernet OAM frames may be differentiated from data frames based on apre-defined EtherType 54. The OAM EtherType may be defined in a numberof ways, and the invention is not limited to a particular OAM EtherTypedefinition. Multicast Ethernet OAM frames can also be differentiatedbased on either of the above two mentioned DAs.

An optional VLAN tag 56 may be used to identify a VLAN corresponding tothe OAM message. When used, this VLAN tag may identify a serviceinstance to which this OAM frame is associated, although the VLAN tagmay also be used for other purposes as well.

The EtherType (VLAN) and VLAN Tag fields form a 4-octet field and arepresent when the OAM frame is associated with a service instance. Inthis case, this VLAN tag identifies the associated service instance.

The EtherType (OAM) 58 is a 2-octet field containing a unique EtherTypevalue that identifies a frame as an OAM frame.

Different OAM flows can be identified by using an OAM Flow ID 60 withinthe OAM frame. The OAM Flow ID is a 1-octet field that identifies theOAM flow to which the OAM frame belongs. The OAM flow identifier is usedto filter an OAM frame from entering or leaving an OAM domain. OAM flowidentifiers are described in greater detail above, although theinvention is not limited to these particular described flow identifiersas other flow identifiers may be used as well.

The OAM OpCode field 62 is a 1-Octet field that identifies the OAMfunction of the OAM frame. Several different OAM functions may bedefined by the OpCode. For example, the OpCode may define OAM functionssuch as intrusive loopback, non-intrusive loopback, path trace,connectivity check, performance monitoring, Alarm Indicator Signals(AIS), Remote Defect Indicators (RDI), and vendor specific functionswhich may allow organizations to extend OAM functions in variousproprietary ways. Several of these OAM functions will be discussed ingreater detail below. Examples of the values that may be assigned to theOAM OpCode field include:

-   -   Intrusive Loopback Request (0x00);    -   Intrusive Loopback Release (0x01);    -   Intrusive Loopback Reply (0x02);    -   Non-Intrusive Loopback Request (0x03);    -   Non-Intrusive Loopback Reply (0x04);    -   Path Trace Request (0x05);    -   Path Trace Response (0x06);    -   Connectivity Check (0x07);    -   Performance Monitoring Request (0x08);    -   Performance Monitoring Reply (0x09);    -   Alarm Indicator Signals (AIS), (0x0A);    -   Remote Defect Indicators (RDI) (0x0B); and    -   Vendor Specific (0xFF)—The vendor specific op-code is provided        to allow vendors or other organizations to extend OAM functions        in proprietary ways.        Other OpCode field values may be assigned as well and the        invention is not limited to an embodiment using these particular        described OpCode values.

The OAM frame body is associated with the corresponding OAM OpCode.Based on the information required for the corresponding OAM function,identified using the OAM OpCode, a specific format of the OAM body canbe specified.

An optional Service ID 66 TLV (type 68, length 70, value 72) may be usedin the body of an OAM frame, when this frame is associated with aService OAM. Use of a Service ID TLV, in addition to the optional VLANtag 56 in the OAM frame header 68, provides another way to identify theservice, other than the VLAN tag 56. This may be used, for example, toaccommodate hierarchal VLANs, enable the OAM frames to carry uniqueglobal service IDs, and to enable other functions to be implementedusing the OAM frames.

Additionally, use of a service ID TLV 66, in addition to the optionalVLAN tag 56 in the OAM frame header 68, enables the service ID to be thesame as the optional VLAN tag in the OAM header, thus allowingvalidation of OAM frames. Additionally, the service ID allows theservice to be differentiated in the network from other services toenable particular OAM features to be provided per-service in thenetwork. The service ID Type-Length-Value (TLV) field is a variablelength field which is optional, and is present when the OAM frame isassociated with a service instance, in which case the TLV portionidentifies the associated service instance. Although the service ID hasbeen illustrated herein as a TLV field in the Ethernet OAM frame body,the invention is not limited in this manner as the service ID may takeother forms and be located at other locations in the Ethernet OAM frame,such as in the frame header.

The OAM data field 74 is a variable length field that is associated withthe corresponding OAM OpCode and is specified for each OAM function.Since Ethernet OAM frames will be forwarded on the network usingstandard Ethernet forwarding techniques, an OAM frame including an OAMdata portion must result in an Ethernet frame with a valid length as setforth in the IEEE 802 Ethernet standard. Therefore, if necessary, theOAM frame may be padded with zeros or other information/data to achievea valid minimum frame size.

The frame check sequence (FCS) field 76 is a four byte field thatcarries the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits for the frame in aconventional manner.

As discussed above, using the notion of OAM domains it is possible tospecify the manner in which OAM flows are handled and propagate on theEthernet network. The OAM frame format, described above, contains fieldsto enable the frame to operate within the OAM domains and allow thenetwork elements deployed in the network to handle the OAM frames in theintended manner. Other OAM frame formats may be developed as well, andthe invention is not limited to this illustrated embodiment.

Part 2—Ethernet OAM Performance Management

A method and apparatus for using OAM in an Ethernet network forperformance management is described in greater detail in ProvisionalU.S. Patent Application No. 60/535,018, filed Jan. 7, 2004, the contentof which is hereby incorporated by reference.

When subscribing to an Ethernet service, measurement of serviceperformance becomes a requirement for service providers and optionallyits customers, since such measurements can be applied towards evaluatingadherence to Service Level Agreements (SLA) between the provider andcustomer. The performance parameters that need to be measured andmechanisms used for these measurements can be discussed in terms of themaintenance entities (MEs) and information elements that need to besupported as part of the Ethernet OAM environment. According to anembodiment of the invention, a method and apparatus for defining theseparameters and information elements is provided along with a method andapparatus for measuring service performance in an Ethernet network.Additionally, the use of currently available management objects forperformance management across Ethernet networks is provided.

Maintenance Entities

G.8010 provides point-to-point connectivity service types for bothsingle operator and multi-operator scenarios. FIGS. 5 and 6 illustratepoint-to-point Ethernet connectivity administrative domains associatedwith management entities, and FIG. 7 illustrates multipoint Ethernetconnectivity administrative domains associated with management entities.

For point-to-point service types as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6,several maintenance entities are of particular interest. Thesemaintenance entities include a maintenance entity between the customerflow points (UNI_C to UNI_C), a maintenance entity between networkprovider flow points (UNI_N to UNI_N), access link maintenance entities,intra-domain maintenance entities, and inter-domain maintenanceentities, although other maintenance entities may be created andmonitored as well. When the UNI is service multiplexed across more thanone service instance, performance management on a link level basis isnot feasible and must be done on a service level basis.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment in which a single network operatorprovides service to connect User X's sites across a service provider'snetwork. FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment in which more than one networkoperator provides connectivity to implement service provider Y'snetwork. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, to monitorconnectivity between user X's sites, the user can use a UNI_C to UNI_Cmaintenance entity. This will allow end-to-end performance monitoringacross the network.

Other aspects of the connection may be monitored as well. For example,it may be desirable to monitor the access links that connect the userX's sites to the service provider. Access link maintenance entities maybe used for this. It may also be desirable to monitor flows throughnetwork operator A's network to monitor the performance within thenetwork. This many be performed, as illustrated, through the use ofintra-domain maintenance entities or with an UNI_N to UNI_N maintenanceentity.

Where more than one network operator is used to provide connectivity inthe service provider's network, each network operator will need tomonitor performance within their own network as well as allow theservice provider to monitor performance across the entire network. Thus,a UNI_N to UNI_N maintenance entity may be used to monitor performanceacross the service provider's network, an inter-domain maintenanceentity may be used to monitor performance between two network operators,and intra-domain maintenance entities may be used by each of the networkoperators to monitor their own networks.

When multipoint flows are to be monitored, as shown in FIG. 7,additional maintenance entities of each type may be defined. Forexample, where the user has multiple flow points on each site,maintenance entities may be created to monitor flows between each of thecustomer flow points. Similarly, an access link maintenance entity maybe defined for each customer flow point, and UNI_N to UNI_N maintenanceentities may be defined between each of the network flow points.Depending on the topology of the interconnectivity of the networks, asingle Ethernet link NNI may be used or multiple links may be used.Multiple intra-domain maintenance entities and one or more inter-domainmaintenance entities may be required as well.

All of the maintenance entities defined on the network may be used tomonitor performance. The invention is not limited to the particularillustrated maintenance entities as other maintenance entities may bedefined as well.

Performance Parameters

Performance parameters for Ethernet networks may include severaldifferent parameters, and the invention is not limited to measurement ofany particular group of parameters. Several parameters that may bemeasured include frame loss, frame delay, frame delay variation, andavailability. While these parameters may be defined in different waysdepending on the context, several possible uses for these parameters areset forth below. The invention is not limited to these particularparameters or to the manner in which these parameters are defined, asmany different parameters may be created and used to manage the Ethernetdomains.

One of the parameters that may be measured is a frame loss parameter,which may be measured as the difference between the number of serviceframes sent to an ingress UNI and the number of service frames receivedat an egress UNI. This may be applied to an Ethernet Virtual Connection(EVC), which corresponds to an UNI_N to UNI_N maintenance entity. Inthis context, for sub-rate or virtual services, the frame loss can beassociated with both in-profile and out-of-profile service frames.In-profile service frames are those that are within the CommittedInformation Rate (CIR) for the particular service, and out-of-profileservice frames are those that are transmitted in excess of the CIR forthe service. Since the network elements on the network will typicallyhandle in-profile traffic differently than out-of-profile traffic, frameloss may be measured for both types of transmissions.

Another parameter that may be measured is the frame delay. The framedelay may be measured as a round-trip delay, which is the amount of timewhich elapses between transmission of the first bit of a frame by thesource node and reception of the last bit of a loop backed frame by thesame source node, when the loop back is performed by the frame'sdestination node. Other forms of delay may be measured as well, such ason-way delay, and the invention is thus not limited to measurement ofround-trip delay.

Another parameter that may be measured is the frame delay variation,which may be measured as a measure of the variation in the frame arrivalpattern belonging to the same class of service instances compared to thearrival pattern at the ingress of the management entity node.

The availability function is a measure of the time the maintenanceentity (associating service UNIs) is in available state. It is specifiedas a ratio of the total time a maintenance entity is in an availablestate divided by the total service time, where the total service time isviewed as a number of time intervals, and the available state is viewedas an interval when the service meets the frame loss, frame delay, andframe delay variation bounds. An unavailable state is encountered whenat least one of the frame loss, frame delay, and frame delay variationparameters exceed their bounds/thresholds during a time interval. Thesebounds/thresholds are determined by the class of service. It may benoted that the definition of availability can also be based on thedefinition contained in ITU standard Y.1711, or in a number of otherdifferent ways.

Several additional performance parameters that may be taken intoconsideration include errored frame seconds, service status, and framethroughput. Errored frame seconds is a parameter that indicates if anerror (e.g., frame error due to a Frame Check Sequence (FCS) or 8 B/10 Bcoding violation) has occurred within the second. This does not takeinto consideration errors when frames are received error free but arenot delivered. The service status parameter indicates if the service isin-service or out-of-service. In-service or out-of-service state can bebased on the available state mentioned above, and is available for bothUNI-C to UNI-C and UNI-N to UNI-N maintenance entities. The framethroughput is an indication of the number of frames and/or bytestransmitted to a network interface relative to the committed informationrate. Several other parameters may be measured as well, such as:

-   -   Frame Tx—the number of frames transmitted out of the customer        facing interface within the (previous) time interval (e.g. 1        second).    -   Frame Rx—the number of frames received from the customer facing        interface within the (previous) time interval (e.g. 1 second).    -   Frame Drop—the number of frames dropped at the customer facing        interface within the (previous) time interval (e.g. 1 second).    -   Loopback Status—this parameter indicates whether the customer        facing interface is in an intrusive loopback state (potentially        due to OAM interactions across access link maintenance entity).    -   Client Signal Fail—this parameter indicates the state of an        access link maintenance entity.    -   Unavailable Time—indicates the number of time intervals (e.g. 1        second) when the service status is unavailable.        Other parameters may be measured as well and the invention is        not limited to these several identified measurements.

Measurement Mechanisms

There are several different measurement mechanisms that may be used tomake performance measurements, which may yield disparate measurementsand exhibit different levels of accuracy. Several such mechanismsinclude management plane statistical methods, management plane managedobject methods, and data path OAM frame methods.

The management plane statistical method uses OAM frames to estimate datapath behavior. Such methods are the least accurate since they applyapproximations to emulate data frames. The limitation lies in the factthat the behavior of actual data frames may be quite different due todifferent addressing, processing, transient congestion conditions etc.Also, error conditions in the networks typically happen in bursts, whichare more likely to be underrepresented in a statistical model. Thus, thestatistical methods are likely to represent different results notrepresentative of actual traffic conditions, although statisticalmethods may be useful in particular contexts and the invention does notexclude the use of this measurement technique.

The management plane managed objects method uses OAM frames, which usedata path managed objects to calculate performance parameters that areinserted and/or extracted via the management plane. These methods arefairly accurate since they use data path statistics to measure data pathperformance. Their limitation lies in the fact that since the insertionand extraction of these OAM frames is done via the management plane,in-flight frames need to be accounted for. On the egress side, in-flightframes refer to data frames sent in the time period between accessingthe egress data path managed objects and actual transmission of an OAMframe relating to those objects. On the ingress side of an OAM frame,in-flight frames refer to data frames received between reception of anOAM frame and a subsequent access of the ingress data plane managedobjects. However, this limitation can be addressed by averaging suchmeasurements across multiple time intervals.

The data path OAM frames method uses OAM frames that use data pathmanaged objects that are inserted and/or extracted via the data plane.This method tends to be the most accurate since it does not have thelimitations associated with the in-flight frames described above withrespect to the management plane managed objects technique. However, thecurrent data path hardware/chips do not support the implementation ofsuch methods, since this requires Ethernet data path processing toinclude automatic insertion and/or extraction of OAM frames with dataplane managed object values. Moreover, it would also require changes inhardware/chips to allow ingress and egress filtering rules across OAMframes to protect service provider administrative domains fromunintended OAM frames.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a measurement mechanismbased on the use of management plane managed objects mechanism is usedto measure network performance. One advantage of these mechanisms isthat they require no changes in the existing hardware/chips of theinstalled base of network elements that ultimately will need to supportthe Ethernet OAM mechanisms described herein. Rather, such mechanismsonly require changes to be made in the OAM client software to enable theEthernet OAM performance measurement to be implemented. The invention isnot limited to this embodiment, however, as one or more of the otherdescribed methods may be used as well.

In this method, measurement of a particular parameter may beaccomplished via the collection of managed object information andcalculation of performance parameter (s) from the collected managedobject information. Each of these portions of the method will bedescribed in greater detail below.

Performance Management Collection Method

Managed object information may be collected using general or specificmethods. When a general method is used, it can be applied to collectinformation across different managed objects e.g. using type lengthvalues as information elements instead of specific information elements.However, when a specific method with specific information elements isused, a separate method is needed per managed object or per set ofmanaged objects.

Similarly, it is possible to use either a solicited or an unsolicitedcollection method, in which a solicited method requires a response afteran OAM request frame is sent, while an unsolicited method does notrequire a response to an OAM frame. Some current examples of solicitedand unsolicited methods include loopback and continuity check, asdescribed in greater detail herein, although the invention is notlimited to these two examples.

A generic method similar to the variable request/response method used inIEEE 802.3ah may be used to send/receive data path managed objectinformation. Further, according to an embodiment of the invention, bothsolicited and unsolicited methods may be used and optionally extended,as discussed in greater detail below. Note that this extension forperformance management will require additional processing and thereforeshould not be used for the measurement of delay.

Frame Loss Measurement

Several maintenance entities may be defined to support frame lossmeasurements, including: service management entities for point-to-pointservice with dedicated UNIs; UNI_C to UNI_C; UNI_N to UNI_N; access link(UNI); inter-domain (NNI); network maintenance entities; intra-domain;inter-domain; and numerous other types of maintenance entities. Theinvention is not limited to the particular maintenance entities used toperform frame loss measurements.

Unsolicited Method

To calculate frame loss using an unsolicited method, when applied acrossa UNI_N to UNI_N management entity, an OAM frame is sent every N seconds(e.g. N=1) that includes an indication of the number of framestransmitted at the ingress service UNI. Upon receiving this OAM frame,the transmitted value is compared with a frames received value at theegress service UNI. Between two such consecutive OAM frames, the frameloss can be measured as Frame Loss=|CT2-CT1|−|CR2-CR1|, where CT and CRare the number of transmitted and received frame counts, and theabsolute value indicators apply where the counters wrap. The inventionis not limited to the use of this particular formula, however, as othermanners of measuring the frame loss may be used as well. Consecutivemessages help in reducing error introduced by in-flight frames and anylack of timing synchronization between sender and receiver. Within ameasurement time interval, the frame loss count can be averaged toimprove the accuracy of this measurement.

Solicited Method

To calculate frame loss using a solicited method, the requestor sends anOAM request frame to a receiver every N seconds (e.g. N=1) with itsmanaged objects information and expects an OAM response frame withreceiver's managed object information. For example, when applied acrossan UNI_C to UNI_C maintenance entity, the requestor sends a framestransmitted value at an egress service UNI and requests a framesreceived value from the receiver's ingress service UNI. Similarly, whenapplied across an UNI_N to UNI_N maintenance entity, the requestor sendsa frames received value at an ingress service UNI_N and requests theframes transmitted value from receiver's egress service UNI_N.

Upon receiving the OAM request frame, the receiver compares the receivedmanaged object information with its corresponding managed objectinformation, and sends a response OAM frame back to the requestor withthe requested managed object information. When applied across an UNI_Cto UNI_C maintenance entity, the receiver compares the received framestransmitted value with the frames received value and responds with itsframes transmitted value. Similarly, when applied across an UNI_N toUNI_N maintenance entity, the receiver compares the received framesreceived value with its frames transmitted value and responds with itsframes transmitted value.

Upon receiving an OAM response frame, the requestor compares theoriginal sent value with the received values, in a manner similar to thereceiver. It is possible that the receiver returns the results of frameloss instead of the managed object information in the response. However,if the managed object information is returned, the performancecollection method remains generic.

Between two such consecutive OAM frames, the frame loss can be measuredas Frame Loss=|CT2-CT1|−|CR2-CR1|, where CT and CR are the framestransmitted and frames received counts, and the absolute valueindicators apply where the counters wrap. The invention is not limitedto the use of this particular formula, however, as other manners ofmeasuring the frame loss may be used as well. Consecutive messages helpin reducing error introduced by in-flight frames and lack of timingsynchronization between the sender and the receiver. Within ameasurement time interval, the frame loss count can be averaged toimprove the accuracy of this measurement.

Information elements that can be applied to the OAM data mentionedherein include the sequence number, the number of transmit TLVs (valuefilled in by requestor, recipient simply copies it back in response),the number of request TLVs (value is filled in by recipient and sentback in response), and the TLVs (Managed Object variable:FramesTransmittedOK & FramesReceivedOK, value length, value). The abovemethod can be applied for measuring network level frame loss. Thenetwork level frame loss can be measured within the network, independentof the services.

For non-dedicated point-to-point service types with multiplexed serviceUNI, where a UNI carries more than one service flow, it is possible tomeasure the frame loss when the data path managed objects per serviceinstance are supported.

Statistical Method

For a multipoint-to-multipoint service type, the statistical methodacross a pair of UNIs can be applied to estimate frame loss. Forexample, the requestor may send a number (N) of OAM request frames to arecipient and may receive a different number (M) response frames backfrom the recipient such that M<=N. The data path frame loss can beestimated as Frame Loss=(N−M) per measurement time interval. As notedearlier, statistical methods are less accurate than the solicited andunsolicited methods, but the invention is not limited to use of one ofthe solicited or unsolicited methods described above.

Frame Delay Measurement

Frame delay measurement may be performed for point-to-point andmultipoint-to-multipoint between a given pair of UNIs. Servicemaintenance entities across which frame delay can be measured includeUNI_C to UNI_C and UNI_N to UNI_N. Frame delay measurements may beperformed using a solicited method such as loopback, an unsolicitedmethod such as connectivity check, or another method:.

The loopback method measures round-trip or two-way frame delay. In thismethod, the requestor sends an OAM request message with its timestamp tothe receiver. The receiver replies, copying the requestor's timestamp.At the requestor, the difference between the timestamps at the time ofreceiving the OAM response frame and original timestamp in the OAMresponse frame results in round trip frame delay. The frame delay methodmay support several information elements, including sequence number andrequest timestamp. The invention is not limited to use of either ofthese OAM data fields.

Frame Delay Variation Measurement

The frame delay variation may be measured for point-to-point andmultipoint-to-multipoint flows between a given pair of UNIs. Themaintenance entities across which the frame delay variation can bemeasured include UNI_C to UNI_C and UNI_N to UNI_N. A solicited method,such as a loopback method, may be used. The loopback method measures theround-trip or two-way frame delay per request and response frame. Withinthe period of observation, the requestor keeps track of maximum framedelay (FD_(max)) and minimum frame delay (FD_(min)). The frame delayvariation is then calculated as: frame delay variation orjitter=FD_(max)−FD_(min). Information elements that may be used inconnection with the frame delay variation include the sequence numberand the request timestamp, although other elements may be included aswell.

Additionally, one-way Frame Delay Variation (FDM) may be measured, forexample at the receiver the frame delay variation may be measured asFDV=[Time(rx2)−Time(rx1)]−[Time(tx2)−Time (tx1)], to provide the one-waydelay variation between the two samples. This does not require timesynchronization between requestor and responder. The invention is notlimited to this particular example as other measurements may be made aswell.

Availability Measurement

Availability measurements may be performed for point-to-point serviceswith at least dedicated UNIs. Service maintenance entities across whichavailability may be measured include UNI_C to UNI_C and UNI_N to UNI_N.Availability may be measured using one of the frame loss, frame delay,or frame delay variation methods described above. Since the availabilitytime period may be different than the measurement time period, theavailability time interval (e.g. 24 hr) can be divided into measurementtime intervals (e.g. 1 minute). The frame loss, frame delay, and framedelay variation measurements are measured per measurement time interval.If any of the three measures crosses its corresponding thresholds, whichare dependent on the service type, the measurement time interval isconsidered to be unavailable; otherwise it is considered to beavailable. The availability may be calculated as: Availability=(# ofavailable measurement time intervals)/(# of total measurement timeintervals)x100%. Other details may be specified to define theavailability as well, and other metrics may be developed to measure theavailability, and the invention is not limited to this particularmetric.

Other Measurements

A number of other measurements may be made as well. In the unsolicitedmethod described above, these measurements may be made by sending OAMframes containing the information every time interval (e.g. 1 second) tothe peer.

Available Management Objects

Some existing management objects that can be used for the mechanismsmentioned above include management objects specified in the followingstandards, although the invention is not limited in this manner as othermanagement objects may be used as well:

IEEE 802.3-2002

-   -   aFramesTransmittedOK    -   aFramesReceivedOK

IEEE 802.1Q-2003

-   -   Frames Received    -   Frames Outbound        RFC 3635—Ethernet-like interface MIB (Obsoletes 2665)    -   IF-MIB    -   IfOutUCastPkts    -   IfOutMulticastPkts    -   IfOutBroadcastPkts    -   IfInUCastPkts    -   IfInMulticastPkts    -   ifInBroadcastPkts    -   aFramesTransmittedOK=ifOutUCastPkts+ifOutMulticastPkts+ifOutBroadcastPkts    -   aFramesReceivedOK=ifInUCastPkts+ifInMulticastPkts+ifInBroadcastPkts

RFC 2674—VLAN Bridge MIB

-   -   dotlqPortVlanStatisticsTable    -   dotlqTpVlanPortInFrames    -   dotlqTpVlanPortOutFrames

Part 3—Fault Detection and Verification

A method and apparatus for using OAM in an Ethernet network to performfault detection is described in two Provisional U.S. PatentApplications: No. 60/518,920, filed Nov. 10, 2003, and No. 60/518,919,filed Nov. 10, 2003. The content of each of these provisionalapplications is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

Part 3A—Fault Detection

Ethernet connectivity check can be applied to detect connectivity orcontinuity failures across a given pair of network elements. As usedherein, the term “connectivity” will be used to include the notion of“continuity” as these phrases maybe used interchangeably by a person ofordinary skill in the art. Connectivity failures could result due tohard or soft failures, with software failure, memory corruption, ormisconfigurations being several examples of soft failures. When used incontext of a specific service instance, connectivity check can beapplied to detect connectivity failures across a given pair of networkelements that support that common service instance. Althoughconnectivity checks can be used to detect connectivity failures acrossany pair of network elements, it is particularly useful across a pair ofedge network elements.

To detect connectivity failures with either a given set of networkelements or all network elements meeting certain condition(s) within aboundary, a network element sends connectivity check frames to either aspecific unicast DAs or to a multicast DA. Condition(s) associated withthe frame could be that all edge network elements should receive thisconnectivity check or all edge network elements participating in aservice instance should receive this connectivity check. Upon receptionof the first connectivity check from a particular network element, thereceiving network element identifies connectivity with sending networkelement and expects to receive further periodic connectivity checks.Once the receiving network element stops receiving periodic connectivitychecks from the sending network element, it detects that connectivity tothe sending network element is broken. Following detection ofconnectivity failure, the detecting network element may notify theoperator or initiate fault verification, followed by an optional faultisolation step.

A connectivity check may be initiated either on-demand via an operatorinitiated action or may be performed periodically. The periodicity atwhich connectivity checks are performed may be configurable, although adefault value such as a 10 second interval may also be established.Optionally, to prevent a dropped connectivity check frame from causingan unwarranted connectivity failure determination, a connectivityfailure may require a larger number of sequential frame losses, such asthree consecutive connectivity check losses.

Since the OAM connectivity check mechanism has a periodicity intervalgreater than 50 ms, it may not be suitable to detect and trigger asub-50 ms failure detection and restoration operation. Accordingly, asupplemental detection mechanism such as an Alarm IndicationSignal/Remote Defect Indication (AIS/RDI) may be used in conjunctionwith physical failure detection for sub-50 ms detection.

The receiving network element does not need to respond to a connectivitycheck. The use of multicast DA results in only O(n) messages, where n isnumber of network elements requiring connectivity failure detectionamong each other. In comparison, connectivity checks with unicast DAresults in O(n²) messages. When used between edge network elements, themulticast DA can be equal to “All Edge Bridges Multicast DA,” whichmakes the connectivity check transparent to the interior networkelements.

When used in context of a service instance, interior network elementswhich do not have any UNI for the service instance propagateconnectivity checks to other network elements. Similarly, theconnectivity check is blocked from going out on the UNI ports towardsthe customer. A connectivity check is processed by network elements thathave a UNI for the service instance. It is possible that a networkelement may have a UNI for that service instance and also serve as anintermediate network element while connecting to other edge networkelements, as shown by network element B in FIG. 8. Specifically, in FIG.8, the network element B has a UNI interface as well as NNI interfacesconnected to another edge network elements A, C, P which have UNIinterfaces. In this case, the connectivity check is processed by thisnetwork element, while it is also propagated to other network elements.

Since the connectivity check relies on the existence of a frame ratherthan the content of the frame to indicate the presence of connectivity,the OAM data field of the generic frame format (described above) may beempty. Optionally, additional information may be conveyed in theconnectivity check frames, and the invention is not limited to aparticular implementation.

For example, assume that a network element is scheduled to be removedfrom service, or otherwise is about to become unable to participate inconnectivity checks. Optionally, the network element may include itsanticipated state in the data field of the connectivity check frames toconvey this information to other network elements on the network. Forexample, if a network element is put out of commission, then to avoidtriggering false failure detection, the out-of-commissioned networkelement may be configured to indicate its soon to be out-of-state statusto other member network elements through a flag in the connectivitymessage. The other member network elements, upon receiving thisindication, may deactivate a corresponding a heartbeat timer for thatnetwork element.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, assuming that A and F are customernetwork elements. B and C are edge network elements of provider X1 and Dand E are edge network element of provider X2. Both C and D are alsoedge hand-off network elements. Also assume there are other edge andinterior network element in both provider X1 and provider X2 networks. Aconnectivity check can be generated at B (with a Unicast DA=MAC addresson E) with OAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)).This OAM frame will be forwarded to E based on its Unicast DA.

Alternatively, a connectivity check can be generated at B (with aMulticast DA=All Edge bridges Multicast DA) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)). As a result, all edge networkelements within the provider X1 OAM domain will receive thisconnectivity check. When C receives this OAM frame, it will recognize itand processes it, as C is an edge network element. Since the OAM frameidentifier=Segment_(inter-provider), C will also forward theconnectivity check frame to D. When D receives this frame, it willrecognize it and processes it. D will also forward the frame to allother edge network elements within the provider X2 OAM domain. When thisconnectivity check frame reaches E, network element # will recognize theOAM Frame and processes it. However, since the OAM frame is not meant tobe sent to the customer's network, network element E will terminate theconnectivity check frame.

In another example, when a segment multicast OAM flow is needed withinedge devices of provider X1 network, it can be generated at B (with aMulticast DA=All Edge bridges Multicast DA) with an OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). As a result, all edge networkelements within the provider X1 OAM domain will receive thisconnectivity check. When C receives the connectivity check, it willrecognize it and processes it, as C is an edge network element. Sincethe OAM flow identifier=Segment_(intra-provider), network element C willterminate the connectivity check and will not forward it to networkelement D.

Part 3B—Fault Verification

Once a fault is identified, it may be advantageous to verify the faultbefore taking corrective action or in connection with taking correctiveaction on the network. One way to do this, as described in greaterdetail below, is through the use of OAM loopback on the network.

Loopback causes a network element receiving a frame from a networkelement to transmit a corresponding frame back to the original networkelement. Loopback functions may be implemented on a network in twoways—using an intrusive loopback or using non-intrusive loopback.Intrusive loopback is used to place a remote network element in acontinuous loopback such that all received frames would be looped backexcept OAM frames. Since this function results in loopback of dataframes, the data path is impacted. Since the datapath is affected, thisloopback mode is considered to be intrusive. Given the nature of thismode, it is expected to be used mainly for point-to-point functions.Intrusive loopback OAM frames, requesting start or termination ofloopback, are expected to be unicast (with DA=address of remote networkelement). Moreover, the applicability of intrusive loopback is expectedto be limited to Ethernet Private Line (EPL) services, although theinvention is not limited in this manner. Intrusive loopback generallymay be used for out-of-service testing or for other types of testing.

Non-intrusive loopback is used mainly to verify connectivity with remotenetwork element(s) and may be used in both unicast and multicastscenarios. Non-intrusive loopback is performed by sending OAM frames toremote network element(s) and expecting a response back which verifiesconnectivity. Since the data frames are not looped back, and the datapath is therefore not impacted, this loopback mode is considered to benon-intrusive. As a result, this function can be used for in-servicetesting.

Although non-intrusive loopback may be initiated at any time, it isparticularly useful when verifying connectivity once a connectivityfailure is detected, for example using the connectivity check functionsdescribed above. Non-intrusive loopback requests may be generated by anetwork element either automatically following detection of connectivityfailure, where detection could be done using a connectivity checkfunction, or on-demand via operator initiated commands.

Non-intrusive loopback may also be used for fault detection when used ona periodic basis. However, since non-intrusive loopback requires aresponse for each request, non-intrusive loopback response generation,and the handling of the response by requestor, are more processingintensive tasks than connectivity check function described above,however.

Unicast Non-Intrusive Loopback

In a unicast non-intrusive loopback request an OAM frame is sent to aparticular network element (with DA=unicast MAC address of destinationnetwork element). Upon receipt of this request OAM frame, thedestination network element responds back with one or more non-intrusiveloopback response OAM frame(s) (with DA=unicast MAC address ofrequesting network element, which was learned from the request OAMframe). Other network elements that receive this request and/or responseOAM frame forward the request and response OAM frames without processingthem since the OAM frame DAs do not match the MAC addresses of theforwarding network elements.

With unicast non-intrusive loopback there is no need to provide anidentifier in the request to relate a response OAM frame with acorresponding request OAM frame. Specifically, the network element thatgenerated the request frame to the particular DA may wait for a responseframe having a SA that is the same as the DA of the request frame. Thus,by matching request message DA with the response message SA, it ispossible to use the response message source address to correlateresponse and request messages.

To make the non-intrusive loopback function meaningful, the requestornetwork element can maintain a timer to determine if a response OAMframe is received within an acceptable time period. When a response isnot received within specified time period, the requester verifiesconnectivity failure. Following verification of connectivity failure,the verifying network element may notify the operator, and/or initiatean optional fault isolation step discussed below.

Although a unicast non-intrusive loopback can be used to verifyconnectivity failures across any pair of network elements, it isparticularly useful across a pair of edge network elements. Theinvention is not limited in this manner, however.

Multicast Non-Intrusive Loopback

To perform multicast non-intrusive loopback, a multicast non-intrusiveloopback request OAM frame is sent to all network elements meetingcertain condition(s) within a boundary (with DA=Multicast DA). Severalmulticast DAs were discussed above in greater detail and may be used asthe DA for the non-intrusive loopback frames. For example, the multicastrequest frame may be created so that all edge network elements shouldreceive this request OAM frame or that all edge network elementsparticipating in a service instance should receive this request OAMframe. Upon reception of a request OAM frame, the receiving networkelement(s) respond back with a unicast non-intrusive loopback responseOAM frame (with DA=Unicast MAC address of requesting network element,which was learned from the request OAM frame). Other network elementsthat do not meet these conditions receive this request and/or responseOAM frame and forward the frame without processing.

An identifier is not required to be included in the request to enablethe requestor network element to relate a response OAM frame with acorresponding request OAM frame, although an identifier could optionallybe used if desired. Where an identifier is used, the identifier may beused to detect the presence of loops on the network. Specifically, ifthe receiver receives an OAM frame with the same identifier, it mayinfer the presence of a loop on the network.

To enable the requestor to determine that a loopback has not occurred,the requestor network element can maintain a timer to enable therequestor to wait a predetermined allowable period of time during whichit may expect to receive response OAM frame(s). Based on all theresponses received within the specified time period, the requesterdiscovers peer network elements. Similarly, to prevent the requestingnetwork element from getting overwhelmed with response OAM framesarriving at the same time, a bounded randomized delay may be used by theresponding network element (s). This randomized delay may be implementedin the responding network elements, for example, to cause them to delaya short period before responding with a reply. The bounded randomizeddelay, according to one embodiment of the invention, is bounded by thetimer period set by the requestor to prevent the responses from beingtransmitted to the requestor outside the reception period at therequestor.

Although a multicast non-intrusive loopback request OAM frame can beused to discover all network elements within an administrative boundary(with DA=all bridges multicast DA), it may be used according to oneembodiment of the invention to discover all edge network elements withinthe administrative boundary. To do this, the requestor will send amulticast non-intrusive loopback request OAM frame (with DA=all edgebridges multicast DA). The format for the OAM data field of the genericframe format may assume the data structure illustrated in FIG. 9,although the invention is not limited to this embodiment. Specifically,as shown in FIG. 9, the OAM data field in this embodiment includes arequest/response ID, 4 bytes in length, to enable responses to beidentified and correlated to the request that was issued to identify thenetwork elements in the administrative domain.

Referring back to the example discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 3,assume that network elements A and F are customer network element,network elements B and C are edge network elements of provider X1, andnetwork elements D and E are edge network element of provider X2. Itwill also be assumed that both C and D are edge hand-off networkelements, and that there are other edge and interior network elements inboth provider X1 and provider X2 networks.

A unicast non-intrusive loopback request can be generated at B (with aUnicast DA=MAC address on E) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)). This OAM frame gets forwarded toE based on its unicast DA. The request/response ID can be ignored inthis case. Upon receiving the request, E sends a response back to B(with a unicast DA equal to the MAC address on B, which was learned fromthe request frame) with an OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)).

Alternatively, a multicast non-intrusive loopback request can begenerated at B (with a Multicast DA=all edge bridges multicast DA) withOAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)) andrequest/response ID (Id=XXX). As a result, all edge network elementswithin provider X1 OAM domain receive this request. When C receives thisOAM frame, it recognizes it and processes it, as C is an edge networkelement. Since identifier=Segment_(inter-provider), C also forwards thismulticast non-intrusive loopback request to D. When D receives thisrequest frame, it recognizes it and processes it. D also forwards thisrequest frame to all other edge network elements within provider X2 OAMdomain. When this request frame reaches E, it recognizes it andprocesses it. However, since the OAM frame is not meant to be sent tothe customer network, E terminates this request frame. Upon receivingthe request, each edge network element sends a response back to B (witha Unicast DA equal to the MAC address on B, which was learned from therequest frame) with an OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)) and Request/Response Id (Id=XXX).A pre-configured randomized delay may be applied before the response issent back to prevent too many responses from arriving at B at the sametime.

Considering another case, in which a segment multicast OAM flow isneeded within edge devices of the provider X1 network. The OAM flow canbe generated at B (with a multicast DA=all edge bridges multicast DA)with OAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)) andrequest/response ID (ID=XXX). As a result, all edge network elementswithin provider X1's OAM domain receive this request. When C receivesrequest frame, it recognizes it and processes it, as C is an edgenetwork element. Since the identifier=Segment_(intra-provider), Cterminates the request and does not forwards it to D. The responsebehavior remains the same. Upon receiving the request, each edge networkelement sends a response back to B (with a unicast DA equal to the MACaddress on B, which was learned from the request frame), with an OAMflow identifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)), andrequest/response ID (ID=XXX). A pre-configured randomized delay may beapplied before response is sent back as described above.

Using fault detection and fault verification, as described above,Ethernet OAM flows may be able to be used to identify faults on thenetwork and verify the existence of the fault. Although specifictechniques have been described herein, the invention is not limited toonly these several described embodiments, as the fault detection andverification techniques may be used in other ways on the network aswell.

Part 3C—Auto-Discovery Method for Ethernet Networks

Ethernet network topography may be discovered using either theunsolicited or solicited methods described above. For example, by usingthe connectivity check method described above, with Ethernet OAM framesaddressed to one of the defined multicast DAs, Ethernet connectivitycheck may be used to perform network topography auto-discovery.Specifically, a multicast OAM flow within provider X1 network may begenerated at B (with a Multicast DA=All Edge bridges Multicast DA) withan OAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). As aresult, all edge network elements within the provider X1 OAM domain willreceive this connectivity check. When C receives the connectivity check,it will recognize it and processes it, as C is an edge network element.Since the OAM flow identifier=Segment_(intra-provider), network elementC will terminate the connectivity check and will not forward it tonetwork element D. By maintaining a table of network elements generatingconnectivity check frames, the network element can build a networktopography map of the network.

Similarly, the loopback method (as described above) may be used toperform network topography discovery using a solicited auto-discoverymethod. For example, by generating multicast Ethernet OAM framesaddressed to edge network elements, and collecting responses from thoseedge network elements, the a network topography may be built to show theedge network elements visible to the originating network element.Similarly, if the multicast DA is set to “all bridges multicast DA” thetopography of the interior of the domain may be determined as well.

For example, a multicast non-intrusive loopback request can be generatedat B (with a Multicast DA=all edge bridges multicast DA) with OAM flowidentifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)) and request/response ID(Id=XXX). As a result, all edge network elements within provider X1 OAMdomain receive this request. When C receives this OAM frame, itrecognizes it and processes it, as C is an edge network element. Sinceidentifier=Segment_(inter-provider), C also forwards this multicastnon-intrusive loopback request to D. When D receives this request frame,it recognizes it and processes it. D also forwards this request frame toall other edge network elements within provider X2 OAM domain. When thisrequest frame reaches E, it recognizes it and processes it. However,since the OAM frame is not meant to be sent to the customer network, Eterminates this request frame. Upon receiving the request, each edgenetwork element sends a response back to B (with a Unicast DA equal tothe MAC address on B, which was learned from the request frame) with anOAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)) andRequest/Response Id (Id=XXX). A pre-configured randomized delay may beapplied before the response is sent back to prevent too many responsesfrom arriving at B at the same time. By collecting the responses, thenetwork topography may be determined by the network element. Where theinterior of the network is of interest as well, the multicast DA may beset to all bridges multicast DA. A similar method may be used todetermine the topography of a portion of the network, such as on adomain level, by setting the OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). The invention is not limited tothese several examples, however, as other methods may be used as well toperform network topography discovery.

Part 4—Fault Isolation

Once a fault is detected and optionally verified, it may be helpful forthe network administrator to be able to isolate the fault isolation.Isolation of the fault allows the network operator to locate where onthe network the fault is occurring, and identify which network elementrequires attention to minimize service interruption associated withrepairing the fault. The process of fault isolation will be discussed ingreater detail below, and is also described in Provisional U.S. PatentApplication No. 60/518,912, filed Nov. 10, 2003, the content of which ishereby incorporated herein by reference.

According to an embodiment of the invention, a path trace function isused to trace the path traversed by a data frame between a sourcenetwork element and a destination network element. The path tracefunction can be used in two ways: to find a path through the networkunder non-failure conditions, and to identify the location of a failureunder other conditions. Under multiple failure scenarios, where multiplefailures occur within the failure detection time, the path tracefunction can serve to localize the first occurrence of the failure alongthe path. As discussed below, the path trace function will not traversea failure and, hence, cannot be used to identify the location ofadditional failures behind the first failure. Optionally, the path tracefunction may be used from both sides of a failure to confirm a singlefailure on the path or to locate two failures on the path.

Although a path trace function may be initiated at any time, it isparticularly useful when localizing failures once a connectivity failurehas been detected and optionally verified. The path trace request may begenerated by a network element either automatically following detectionand verification of connectivity failure, where detection could be doneusing the connectivity check function and verification could be doneusing one of the loopback functions, such as the unicast non-intrusiveloopback function, both of which are described above. Alternatively, thepath trace may be performed on-demand via an operator initiated command.

A path trace request OAM frame is sent to all network elements meetingcertain condition(s) within a boundary (with the OAM frame DA=MulticastDA). Condition(s) could be that all network elements having certainknowledge of a particular destination address should receive thisrequest OAM frame within a single provider network, with all suchreceiving network elements needing to respond, or that all networkelements having certain knowledge of a particular destination addressshould receive this request OAM frame within multiple provider networks,but that only edge network elements need to respond. Other knowledgeconditions may be used as well, and the invention is not limited to theparticular knowledge conditions described herein.

Upon reception of a request OAM frame, the receiving network elementresponds back with a unicast path trace response OAM frame (withDA=unicast MAC address of requesting network element, as learned fromthe request OAM frame) and also attempts to forward the path tracerequest OAM frame to the next possible hop toward the destinationaddress associated with the knowledge condition.

Since a single OAM request frame can generate multiple responses back tothe requester, it is desirable to include an identifier in the requestto enable the requestor network element to correlate a response OAMframe with the corresponding request OAM frame that caused the responseto be generated.

Since the requestor network element is expecting frames to be returned,the requestor network element may maintain a timer to enable it to waita predetermined period during which it may expect to receive responseOAM frame(s). Based on all the responses received within the specifiedtime period, the requester can determine the path to the desired networkelement or determine where, on the network, the path stops en-route tothe desired network element. As discussed above in connection withmulticast loopback section, a bounded randomized delay may be used bythe responding network element(s) to delay generation of a responsemessage to thereby prevent the requesting network element from gettingoverwhelmed with response OAM frames arriving at the same time.

The request OAM frame may be sent to all network elements (with DA=Allbridges multicast DA). If the path trace is used within a singleprovider network domain, which is expected to be the general case, therequest OAM frame may use an OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)). On the other hand, if the pathtrace is to be used across multiple provider networks, which isgenerally not applicable since providers do not normally offervisibility within their network domains, the request OAM frame may usean OAM flow identifier (identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)).

The path trace function may be used to determine a path to a particularnetwork element, as well as to identify the location of a fault on apath to the network element. FIG. 10 illustrates a possible datastructure for a data field 74 of the OAM frame format illustrated inFIG. 4 and described in greater detail above. This data field format maybe used to implement the path trace function according to an embodimentof the invention, although the invention is not limited to an embodimentthat implements this particular data structure.

As shown in FIG. 10, the OAM data field includes request response ID 78that may be used to identify responses to the request. The destinationnetwork element is identified using a target MAC address field 80. Sinceintermediate receiving network elements may replicate the path tracerequest OAM frames, and thus the SA of packets used to perform the pathtrace will not necessarily have the same SA as the original request,identity regarding the original requesting network element is maintainedin the source MAC address field 82 in the OAM data field. This allowsthe responding network elements to always send a response back to theoriginal requesting network elements using response OAM frame (withDA=source MAC address).

The request OAM frame in this embodiment also contains a hop count field84 to enable the requesting network element to correlate the distance ofthe responding network element from the requesting network element. Thehandling of this hop count field is described in greater detail below.

To handle intra-provider and inter-provider topology visibilityconcerns, as mentioned above, the receiving networks elements canprocess the frame as follows: If OAM flow identifier in the request is(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)) and the network element hasknowledge of the target MAC address, a response OAM frame is sent to therequesting network element. Also the receiving network element generatesanother path trace OAM request copying the target MAC address and sourceMAC address fields from the request OAM frame it had received andincrements the hop count field. When the target MAC Address is theaddress on the receiving network element, it sends a response OAM frameand terminates the request OAM frame.

Alternatively, if the OAM flow identifier in the request is(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)) and the network element hasknowledge of the target MAC address and the network element is a edgenetwork element, a response OAM frame is sent to the requesting networkelement. If the target MAC address is not an address on the receivingnetwork element, it generates another path trace OAM request copying thetarget MAC address and source MAC address fields from the request OAMframe it had received and increments the hop count field. When thetarget MAC address is an address on the receiving network element, itsends a response OAM frame and terminates the request OAM frame.

Given that the path trace flow is different from that of a user dataflow (since the path trace goes through the control plane of each hop;whereas, user data flow doesn't), there can exist rare situations wherethe failure cannot be detected by the path trace flow. Since the pathtrace can identify all the network elements along the traced path, it ispossible to run loopback between the requesting node and theintermediate nodes to further isolate the connectivity failure in suchrare situations.

Referring back to the example illustrated in FIG. 3, an inter-domainpath trace request can be generated at B (with a multicast DA=allbridges multicast DA) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)), request/response Id (Id=XXX),target MAC address (address=MAC address of E), source MAC address(address=MAC address of B) and hop count (count=1). As a result, allnetwork elements within provider X1 OAM domain receive this request.

When C receives this OAM frame, it recognizes it and processes it, as itis an edge network element and has information on E's MAC address. Csends a response back to B (with a unicast DA=MAC address on B, aslearned from the source MAC address) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)), request/response Id (Id=XXX), andthe same values of target MAC address, source MAC address and hop Count.Since the identifier=Segment_(inter-provider), C also generates asimilar path trace request to D with the same values from the requestOAM frame it had received. However, the hop count is increment by 1 (hopcount=2).

When D receives this request frame, it recognizes it and processes it. Dalso forwards this request frame to all other network elements withinprovider X2 OAM domain. When this request frame reaches E, it recognizesit and processes it, as E is an edge network element and contains E'sMAC address. E sends a response back to B (with a unicast DA=MAC addresson B, as learned from the source MAC address) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(inter-provider)), request/response Id (Id=XXX), andsame values of target MAC address, source MAC address and hop count.Since the frame is not meant to be sent to customer network, Eterminates this request frame. In this scenario, if a network elementreceives the request OAM frame but is not an edge network element, itjust forwards the received request OAM frame to other network elementsdownstream.

A segment path trace OAM flow may also be needed. In this event, anintra-domain path trace request can be generated at B (with a multicastDA=all bridges multicast DA), with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)), request/response Id (Id=XXX),target MAC Address (address=MAC address of C), source MAC address(address=MAC address of B), and hop count (count=1). As a result, allnetwork elements within provider X1 OAM domain receive this request.

When C receives this OAM frame, it recognizes it and processes it, as itis a network element and contains the target MAC address. C sends aresponse back to B (with a unicast DA=MAC address on B, as learned fromthe source MAC address) with OAM flow identifier(identifier=Segment_(intra-provider)), request/response Id (Id=XXX), andsame values of target MAC address, source MAC address and hop count.Since the identifier=Segment_(intra-provider), C terminates the requestand does not forward it to D.

Generally, MAC entry age-out timers are used to flush out any dormantMAC table entries. This age-out time period may impact the capability toperform a path trace, because the MAC address, corresponding to a targetMAC address entry in the OAM frame, in the Forwarding Data Bases (FDB),may age out. This becomes an issue when a failure occurs, which is notrecoverable by other mechanisms.

Thus, a path trace can be performed within two intervals: before the ageout period, or after the age out interval. If the path trace isperformed before the age out period expires, the path trace will returnvalid results. If path trace is performed after the age-out periodexpires, the path trace will be limited to the first network elementsthat have aged the MAC address out of their forwarding databases. It ispossible that the path trace can be performed beyond the age out periodby maintaining a view of the path at the edge network elements byperforming periodic path trace during normal circumstances i.e. no faultconditions. Upon a failure in the network, the edge network element canuse this path information to perform multiple unicast loopback where theDA for each consecutive unicast loopback request is the successiveaddress contained in path information that is maintained at the edgenetwork element. According to one embodiment of this invention, theperiodicity of the periodic path trace is greater than the periodicityof the connectivity check.

The aspects of Ethernet OAM may be implemented in a number of differentmanners, including as software centrally instantiated in one or moremanagement systems or as distributed code instantiated in the variousnetwork elements configured to implement the OAM functions. It should beunderstood that all functional statements made herein describing thefunctions to be performed by the methods of the invention may beperformed by software programs implemented utilizing subroutines andother programming techniques known to those of ordinary skill in theart. Alternatively, the aspects of Ethernet OAM may be implemented inhardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware, software, andfirmware. The invention is thus not limited to a particularimplementation.

When the OAM functions are implemented in software, the software may beimplemented as a set of program instructions configured to operate incontrol logic on a network element that are stored in a computerreadable memory within the network element and executed on amicroprocessor. For example, in the network element of FIG. 2, the OAMfunctions may be performed by OAM module 46 implemented as software andexecuted on a processor associated with the interface manager 40.However, in this embodiment as with the previous embodiments, it will beapparent to a skilled artisan that all logic described herein can beembodied using discrete components, integrated circuitry such as anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), programmable logic usedin conjunction with a programmable logic device such as a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA) or microprocessor, or any other deviceincluding any combination thereof. Programmable logic can be fixedtemporarily or permanently in a tangible medium such as a read-onlymemory chip, a computer memory, a disk, or other storage medium.Programmable logic can also be fixed in a computer data signal embodiedin a carrier wave, allowing the programmable logic to be transmittedover an interface such as a computer bus or communication network. Allsuch embodiments are intended to fall within the scope of the presentinvention.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications of theembodiments shown in the drawings and described in the specification maybe made within the spirit and scope of the present invention.Accordingly, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription and shown in the accompanying drawings be interpreted in anillustrative and not in a limiting sense. The invention is limited onlyas defined in the following claims and the equivalents thereto.

1. A network element for operation at an edge of a domain of amulti-domain Ethernet network, the network element comprising: at leastone exterior port operable to transmit frames to and receive frames fromat least one other network element in another domain of the multi-domainEthernet network; and a forwarding engine operable to: identify receivedOperation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) frames; and filter thereceived OAM frames such that only selected OAM frames are transmittedvia the at least one exterior port to the at least one other networkelement in the another domain of the multi-domain Ethernet network. 2.The network element as defined in claim 1, wherein the forwarding engineis operable to identify the received OAM frames based on an OAMEtherType of the received OAM frames.
 3. The network element as definedin claim 2, wherein the forwarding engine is operable to filter thereceived OAM frames based on an OAM Flow Identifier of the received OAMframes.
 4. The network element as defined in claim 1, wherein theforwarding engine is operable to extract OAM frames associated with atleast one maintenance entity that terminates on the network element. 5.The network element as defined in claim 4, further comprising an OAMelement locally instantiated on the network element, the OAM elementbeing operable to process the extracted OAM frames to derive performancemeasures for data flows terminating on the network element.
 6. Thenetwork element as defined in claim 5, wherein the performance measuresare selected from a group consisting of frame loss, frame delay, framedelay variation, availability, errored frame seconds, frame transmitrate, frame receive rate, frame drop rate, loopback status, access linkstatus, and unavailable time intervals.
 7. The network element asdefined in claim 4, further comprising a management interface operableto communicate with a remote OAM element based on the extracted OAMframes.
 8. The network element as defined in claim 4, wherein theforwarding engine is operable to extract OAM frames associated with atleast one inter-domain maintenance entity that terminates on the networkelement.
 9. The network element as defined in claim 1, wherein theforwarding engine is operable to insert OAM frames associated with atleast one maintenance entity that terminates on the network element. 10.The network element as defined in claim 9, wherein the forwarding engineis operable to insert OAM frames associated with at least oneinter-domain maintenance entity that terminates on the network element.11. The network element as defined in claim 1, further comprising atleast one interior port operable to transmit frames to and receiveframes from at least one other network element in a same domain of themulti-domain Ethernet network.
 12. A method of operating a networkelement at an edge of a domain of a multi-domain Ethernet network, themethod comprising: transmitting frames to and receiving frames from atleast one other network element of a different domain of themulti-domain Ethernet network at at least one exterior port of thenetwork element; identifying received Operation Administration andMaintenance (OAM) frames; and filtering the received OAM frames suchthat only selected OAM frames are transmitted via the at least oneexterior port to the at least one other network element in the differentdomain of the multi-domain Ethernet network.
 13. The method as definedin claim 12, wherein the step of identifying the received OAM framescomprises identifying the received OAM frames based on an OAM EtherTypeof the received OAM frames.
 14. The method as defined in claim 13,wherein the step of filtering the received OAM frames comprisesfiltering the received OAM frames based on an OAM Flow Identifier of thereceived OAM frames.
 15. The method as defined in claim 12, comprisinginserting OAM frames associated with at least one maintenance entitythat terminates on the network element.
 16. The method as defined inclaim 15, wherein the step of inserting OAM frames comprises insertingOAM frames associated with at least one inter-domain maintenance entitythat terminates on the network element.
 17. The method as defined inclaim 12, comprising extracting OAM frames associated with at least onemaintenance entity that terminates on the network element.
 18. Themethod as defined in claim 17, further comprising processing theextracted OAM frames to derive performance measures for data flowsterminating on the network element.
 19. The method as defined in claim18, comprising deriving performance measures selected from a groupconsisting of frame loss, frame delay, frame delay variation,availability, errored frame seconds, frame transmit rate, frame receiverate, frame drop rate, loopback status, access link status, andunavailable time intervals.
 20. The method as defined in claim 17,further comprising communicating with a remote OAM element based on theextracted OAM frames.
 21. The method as defined in claim 17, wherein thestep of extracting OAM frames comprises extracting OAM frames associatedwith at least one inter-domain maintenance entity that terminates on thenetwork element.
 22. The method as defined in claim 12, furthercomprising transmitting frames to and receiving frames from at least oneother network element of a same domain of the multi-domain Ethernetnetwork at at least one interior port of the network element.